A pitch inspection will take place at 10am this morning to decide if Finn Harps can open their 2022 Premier league season against Drogheda United tonight.
Kickoff is due at 8pm but after the overnight snow that game at Finn Park has now been thrown into doubt.
Tonight would have been the first opportunity for many of the Finn Park faithful to cast eyes on the new faces in the door of the Ballybofey club.
The offseason saw huge changes from the squad that finished eighth in last season’s league table.
New recruits include Croatian Filip Mihaljević, Spaniard José Carrillo, Frenchman Élie-Gaël N’Zeyi Kibonge and Dutch born Turkish underage international Erol Erdal Alkan. There are also some familiar faces making their return to the club in the form of Jesse Devers and Regan Donelon.
The visitors have experienced a similar level of turnover, losing many of their key players and their manager Tim Clancy to St. Patricks Athletic, with others being lured across the water to the UK.
On the theme of familiar faces, Friday’s clash sees the return of Adam Foley and former Harps captain Keith Cowan to Finn Park sporting their new club’s colours.
Ollie Horgan said “Drogheda were the only side we didn’t earn a victory over last season and will provide very tough opposition. They have lost a lot of bodies however they’ve recruited well and still have bags of experience in that squad with Dane Massey and Gary Deegan, and even Keith Cowan who was with us for a number of years and I’m sure he will have the lads well prepared for what to expect coming up here.
“We’ve a lot of new faces in the squad, a lot of them are new to the league and so it’s only natural they will take time to gel. We’ll need the backing of our fans, as we always have but especially to start this campaign and throughout the coming season. It’s no secret at all that our best run of results last year came at the same time as our supporters returned to the ground.”
In team news Mark Timlin, Mark Anthony McGinley, Barry McNamee and Ryan Rainey are doubts. Harps boss Ollie Horgan is suspended and so returning assistant manager Gavin Dykes will take charge.
Injured: None
Suspended: Ollie Horgan
Doubtful: Mark Timlin, Mark Anthony McGinley, Barry McNamee, Ryan Rainey
